The New Marauders
by TonksftMemories
Summary: There once was four. While they were not all whole, they were happy. Then Remus was alone. But now there are two, to be joined by a clumsy Hufflepuff. This story follows Remus, Sirius and Tonks from the end of Goblet of Fire. No Slash. NT/RL
1. A Less Than Cheerful Reunion

**A/N: Hello. If you didn't realize from the ****fan**** in ****fan****fiction, this was written by a ****fan****, not Jo Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters, sadly. There's a decent amount of them that I would like to keep, but alas…**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 1:**

It was early in the morning, for some it was perhaps another day. Most in England were asleep in their beds. But Sirius knew enough to recognize that a new era had begun for the wizarding world, a war which had cost him almost everything had come back to follow him and had already affected the one thing he had left, the one thing which had been his motivation through 12 years of reliving his worse memories.

Harry Potter.

And so it came to be the one last reminder of his best friend had witnessed the return of the most feared dark wizard in the century. And the 2nd war had begun.

This was why he was waiting outside a small, dingy, 1-bedroomed flat, waiting to recruit an old friend into the rebellion. He had met Remus only once since escaping Azkaban, where they had allowed Pettigrew to slip through their fingers. He was not looking forward to telling Remus that Pettigrew had just successfully returned Voldemort back to power one bit. But it had to be done. And he did want to see Remus.

He knew Remus Lupin had probably been condemned to 12 years almost as dark as his, a good portion of which was probably filled with bitter hate towards him, confusion and regret. Sirius was very familiar with these feelings. _Why_ would anyone so close to the Potters have turned spy against them? _How _did he not see this? He could have stopped it! The Potters could be alive and well, forever the happy family set in stone, in statue in the graveyard which he had waited 12 years to visit, 12 years to pay tribute to his inseparable brother.

After realizing Sirius' innocence, Remus would have redirected these thoughts, though after dwelling for 12 years, Sirius knew that he would always be a reminder of his bitter feelings and lonely years.

Remus returned home from work in a state of zombie-like tiredness. A nearing full moon and working night shifts tended to do that to him. I wasn't until a voice called out that he noticed a thin man in ragged, grey robes with long, black, matted hair.

"I was wondering when you would be getting home, Remus."

Shocked, Remus had his wand out before realizing who it was.

"Sirius! What- What are- Shouldn't you be…?" Bewilderment was slowly being overcome by a smile as he strolled towards Sirius and embraced him.

"Come on, better get inside" He continued, a curious smile on his face.

Remus was the first to speak.

"It's good to see that you're okay, but, shouldn't you be… somewhere else? Preferably out of the country. And preferably transformed?"

"I was for a bit. But I've been fulfilling my duty as godfather, which is easier closer to Hogwarts. And now I've been sent here, by Dumbledore. I have some news."

"Hungry?"

"Sure, but we should talk first."

Noting his grim tone, Remus sat at his table, his smile, so _wide_, was now replaced as the lines of worry appeared. Sirius sat, breathed deeply, looking at the table.

"Where to begin…?" Sirius muttered to himself, "Have you been getting the daily prophet?"

"Yeah, I know about Harry's name in the- Wait! The third task was today! It's about that isn't it? What happened? Is Harry okay?"

"He's fine… now at least, anyways", said Sirius, though he avoided Remus' eyes as though he was ashamed.

"Padfoot, what-"

"Voldemort's back".

Remus opened his mouth but nothing came out. After a moment he managed to choke out, "Harry? What? How? Harry wasn't? What happened, Sirius?" He finished, desperately, his hands clutching at his table.

"Harry was there, he used Harry to get his body back. He transported Harry from the third task, via a portkey. No-one knew he'd gone, they couldn't see, they were in a maze."

"How could…? Wait, used Harry? What do you mean?"

"Pettigrew" Sirius spat furiously, "made a potion! "Bone of the father, flesh of the servant-" Remus noted Sirius clenched fists, and found his hands also clenched into tight fists.

"-And blood of the enemy"

Remus turned white, and whispered, "Harry… Peter?" but got no reply as Sirius had his head in his hands.

Remus knew it was Peter to turned in the Potters, gave them to Voldemort, but somewhere he'd always hoped he was forced into it, that he would turn away, at least regret it. Yet the fact that after Sirius escaping and finding his hidey hole he had gone right back to Voldemort shocked him. He thought it was a last resort, that he I must have been threatened for, but he returned freely.

"He stabbed Harry, he stabbed James' son, to bring back the murder of James and Lily. He passed information to them for over a year. He wasn't even threatened. Voldemort wouldn't have even bothered to threaten him, would think he knew nothing." Saying it aloud finally made it sink in for Remus.

"Filthy, selfish piece of shit," Sirius hissed, "He was always the little rat. How did we not see it, Moony?"

A long silence insured, as two men, both stricken by misfortune since before they could remember, being a werewolf; an outcast of society, and being born into a discriminative family with members including the most coldhearted mass-murderers of the century, became part of the most brilliant, mischievous, tight-knit group, and though they were never quite whole, they were happy, only to have the solid base ripped apart, repeated some of the dwelling they had bot spent the subsequent years doing.

"I should get you some food; you look like you haven't eaten in 14 years, Padfoot." Remus said quietly, getting up.

And though Sirius still had a rather vacant expression he suddenly said, "We're setting the order back up. That's why I'm meant to here. Dumbledore is going to contact us here."

With timing, as perfect as always, there was a sudden knock on the door and after Remus hurried to open the door, to find Dumbledore, who seemed almost shining, ahead of the darkness of the night.

**A/N: Reviews are very much appreciated, no matter how short, or negative. Thanks!**


	2. Just an Innocent Suggestion

**A/N: I'm not Jo. Seriously, if I was, the plot of book 7 would involve Remus finding a potion that allowed him to turn into a fluffy, pink bunny every full moon. And Voldemort would have just gotten laid as a 17 year old and therefore not be so determined to ruin the party. But that's nowhere near as interesting. (Don't get turned off my fanfic because of my book 7 plot... I promise that my fanfic isn't fluff...)**

**CHAPTER 2:**

After being greeted and ushered inside, Dumbledore declared the need to meet immediately.

"Tonight we are meeting in the upstairs room of The Hogs Head. However, we will need to find a headquarters, one that is hidden; one that it's unexpected; one that's convenient." Dumbledore said pointedly, glancing at Sirius.

Remus glanced briefly at Sirius too, who suddenly had a stony expression fixed upon his once-handsome features and remained quiet.

Dumbledore turned to send a silver array of silver phoenixes from his wand before turning back to face Remus and Sirius and offering them a flowerpot containing a white powder. Gesturing towards the fireplace, Remus pointed his wand at the fireplace, which immediately became filled with a roaring fire, bathing them in warmth. Remus threw the powder into the fire which turned green and engulfed him as he exclaimed his destination.

It felt strangely surreal to be sitting in a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, like back in his happier days. He hated to admit to himself that he was probably happier when the war was on; when he had a group of amazing friends, when it didn't matter that he was a werewolf, but it was true, for the beginning of the war, at least.

He would have needed to keep reminding himself that it wasn't 15 years ago and that Lily and James weren't about to walk in, however Sirius was more enough of a reminder. Instead of the handsomely haughty youth, there was gaunt man in his mid-thirties. Bitterly, Remus thought at least he wasn't the only one who looked older than he should.

It was quite small meeting, with the only people who were not in the original order being The Weasleys and Madame Maxime, and a majority of the original order having died in the first war.

The old-crowd of Dedalus Diggle, Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore, Rubeus Hagrid and Elphais Doge were all there, and Dumbledore went straight to business, discussing the ministry's position and saying what needed to be attended to, namely keeping tabs on certain death-eaters, quietly recruiting new members and guarding something inside the department of mysteries. Hagrid and Madame Maxime had already agreed to attempt to recruit giants.

Throughout the meeting, Sirius began to get frustrated that Dumbledore wouldn't let him do anything, under the pretence of keeping him alive. As his frustration peaked, Dumbledore changed the subject to headquarters and asked him anyone had any input or suggestions, eyes innocently scanning the table and landing on Sirius.

"You could use the Black family house, I guess it's mine now. It's got a lot of protection on it already." Sirius finally answered.

Remus looked from Dumbledore, to Sirius then back to Dumbledore, in time to see Dumbledore smiling at Sirius and replying, "Thank you Sirius, I think that would be convenient."

Sirius looked like he regretted his words as soon as they had left his mouth. Remus tried to make eye contact, but Sirius seemed to be avoiding it. Remus knew that the last time Sirius had been inside his family house was when he ran away from home at the age of 16. He had never told Remus what was the final straw that had made him leave, but he knew Sirius' only regret was that he didn't leave earlier.

Remus Lupin greatly respected Albus Dumbledore. He would be forever grateful for him allowing him into Hogwarts, as he knew no-one else would have let him in. But Remus felt uneasy, he knew how much Sirius hated that place, as a Gryffindor in a family of maniacal Slytherin purebloods. He knew Dumbledore must also know this, that Dumbledore must know that he ran away from home and that the black family house would be a perfect headquarters, unexpected and protected. Dumbledore was goading Sirius on purpose and though there was a greater cause, Remus thought it was out of line, as Dumbledore could have easily found another headquarters.

"You can have my bed; you look like you could use a decent sleep."

"You don't have to do this", Sirius replied, looking over at his best friend, "What if someone came looking for me here?"

"Well, if they do we'll know soon enough; intruder charms, Stealth Sensoring Spells, the lot."

"You can sleep in your own bed, you know. The sofa would be the comfiest thing I've slept on in 14 years."

Remus shrugged, "I'd prefer if you slept further away from the door."

Sirius sunk onto Remus' bed and glanced at the window, completely covered with dark curtains.

"I can't believe I have to go back to that place. That was the only shithole I thought I was leaving behind for sure. Azkaban, I might have to go back to, the war, well, that's back, but Grimmauld Place… Fuck."

Remus opened his mouth; unsure of what to say, but Sirius was already asleep, half-sitting/half-lying, on top of the covers.

With a lazy flick of his wand, Sirius lay under the blankets and Remus exited the room.

All too soon, Remus awoke. Despite his disorientation at finding himself sleeping on his couch as opposed to his bed, he realized quickly enough why he woke up; a loud scream from his friend, coming from his bedroom. He snatched up his wand, and ran to his room and turned on the light, but found the room only to contain Sirius, who upon Remus' touch, jumped up and had a knife out, which he had managed to get from his sleeve.

"Shhh, Sirius, it's me", Remus whispered quickly.

"What's happening? Are they here? Are they coming?"

Remus was not sure if Sirius meant the Death Eaters, or the ministry, but he hoped that neither of them were coming.

"No, Sirius, you were screaming in your sleep, I came to wake you".

After a pause, Sirius whispered back, "Sorry, Remus, I… I didn't know, I haven't exactly had roommates, for a while, not sane ones, at least. Maybe you should cast silencio?"

"But what if something happened… I wouldn't hear it. Try and… well, tomorrow I'll pick up something for dreamless sleep", Remus replied.

**A/N: You might pick up that I don't particularly like Dumbledore. He may be on the right side and yes, Voldemort died and Harry lived, but he's still a manipulative puppet master.**

**Enough of my bitterness! Just because most of my favourite characters died. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fred, Hedwig...**

**Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated!**


	3. Welcome to the Prison

**CHAPTER 3:**

Sirius Black lay in Remus' bed, in a deliberately uncomfortable position so he would not fall asleep and face his nightmares. He didn't want Remus to know that he wasn't coping and the wake again to Sirius' screams.

When Sirius heard movements downstairs, he waited a while to pretend he'd had a good sleep. He found Remus downstairs, his head in an old, battered book. He looked up, and smiled at Sirius. Placing the book aside, he got up saying, "Morning, Padfoot, how about some breakfast?"

Before Sirius could reply, a silvery-white phoenix had entered the apartment, melting through the bolted, triple-locked door, and emitted a voice that he knew to be Dumbledore's.

"The death eaters would know of your animagus form by now. They may also know where you are. Just keep that in mind while you're both still there. You're better off moving in sooner rather than later."

"Dumbledore expects you to get a new apartment? He knows you can't get work in the wizarding world!" Sirius exclaimed, as the patronus disappeared.

"Sirius… He means he wants you to move into Grimmauld Place"

There was a long silence.

"Shit, Remus! I can't… Remus, going back for meetings will be bad enough. I'd rather live in Amsterdam and run to every Order meeting. Fuck."

"I know it's shit, but it'll have the best protection. And you can't just run off. Being part of the order is more than turning up to each meeting."

"I think that the policy of that has changed this time. In case you didn't notice Remus, Dumbledore thinks it's safer that I don't get involved with much. Maybe we should all just fucking piss off and have a nice holiday, if he's apparently so concerned with safety" he paused, "I'm sorry, Remus, it's not your fault, I shouldn't be…"

"It's okay", Remus replied quietly.

There was another silence.

"Remus, would you want to move into Grimmauld Place with me? I don't mind if you don't want to-"

"No, I mean, yes. Yes, I'll move in with you."

"Thanks. I-fuck, we're moving into Grimmauld Place. I'm going to need that potion for dreamless sleep"

After a somewhat quiet breakfast, Remus quietly suggested they do as Dumbledore said, and move a soon a possible. It took Remus a surprisingly short amount of time to pack, with his magical ability and limited belongings.

"I think that's it", Remus said as he approached Sirius, carrying two old, battered suitcases and setting them by the other two at the door.

He looked up at Sirius, waiting, who was staring at nothing in particular. Clearing his throat, Sirius glanced at him, and jumped up.

"Right", he exclaimed.

Once they had a suitcase in each hand Sirius said tonelessly, "Make sure you apparate onto the top step."

Sirius swallowed and carefully avoided Remus' gaze. He thought of the place he had tried so hard to forget and the memories came back so quickly. He spun on the spot.

Sirius didn't open his eyes until he heard a pop beside him. Not wanting to show weakness, he forced his eyes open and only allowed a moments hesitation before opening the door. He was too generous to himself. The moment he allowed himself stretched out. Shaking himself mentally, he grabbed the doorknob, but let go, as though burned. Remus opened his mouth but unsure of what to say, he decided on a reassuring hand on the shoulder instead and forced himself not to shudder as he felt it emaciated from the years in Azkaban.

Breathing deeply and drawing strength from the hand on his shoulder, he grasped the doorknob and opened the door.

Lurking forward from the shadows came a small muttering, "Was that the door, I wonder who it is, maybe Miss Cissy has come back" he ended hopefully.

But the voice stopped abruptly, before continuing clearer "Madam, it's the ungrateful swine."

There was a long silence. Remus stood waiting until, deciding to ignore the voice, he picked up the suitcases but dropped them almost immediately when a loud boomed voice reached his ears.

"How DARE you come back into the NOBLE and most ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK! YOU ARE NO BLACK! HOW DARE YOU BRING YOUR FILTHY HALF-BREED WOLF BOYFRIEND!"

Grimacing, Sirius turned back to face Remus.

"Consider yourself welcomed to the noble and most ancient house of Black."

Remus found himself cooking dinner that night. Sirius had refused to ask Kreacher to cook and said he'd do it himself, but it turned out that Sirius couldn't really cook. Remus didn't mind, it was worth it to have his best friend back, or most of his best friend at least. Sirius attempted to help, but as soon as it became obvious that he was more of a hindrance than a help he disappeared upstairs and returned with as many bottles of firewhiskey and butterbeer he could carry.

"How about a housewarming drink?"

"Or 7?" Remus replied with an eyebrow raised at the many bottles in Sirius' arms.

"Precisely," Sirius replied as he dumped the bottles on the table.

2 hours later, Sirius had managed to consume most of the firewhiskey while Remus sipped butterbeer. Remus was torn as to whether or not he should stop Sirius. At the beginning, Remus was of the opinion that Sirius deserved a drink, but his drinking was fast and that firewhiskey was strong. Sirius was hardly robust, and Remus was sure that alcohol was on-tap in Azkaban. It didn't surprise Remus that Sirius was soon very drunk, slurring his works and not able to focus on Remus' face properly.

But events took another turn as Sirius became very moody and taking Sirius' drink was both a very good idea and a very bad one.

"Always fucking trapped. Left this shithole, far too fucking late, only too be trapped in another shithole. Full of fucking arsehole family members, both of them. You'd think that once I escaped from prison, I'd be free but no. Albus "all knowing and all powerful who wants what's best for me" Dumbledore wants me back in a hole."

Remus, mouth-open, was unsure of what to say or do but Sirius fell asleep before Remus shut his mouth.

**A/N:**** It's getting a bit angsty… Don't worry, a certain metamorphmagus will be stumbling around sometime soon and she tends to brighten things up a bit.**

**Thanks for the reviews so far! I really appreciate it.**

**I'm hoping to keep this story updated fairy regularly: I hate unfinished fics.**

**Reviews get to hug Sirius before his date with the firewhiskey.**


	4. Metamorphamagus meets Werewolf

**CHAPTER 4:**

Needless to say, the next morning Sirius Black had quite the hangover.

Stumbling into the living room, one hand clutching his forehead, he groaned loudly, catching the attention of one Remus Lupin, who was overseeing the dishes magically wash themselves.

"I'm never-", Sirius began.

"Realistic goals", Remus chimed in.

A short pause ensued, Sirius sending Remus a pointed glare, before continuing, "drinking quite that much after 14 years sober".

"That's a completely useless statement. When will you ever spend 14 years sober again?"

"If I go back to Azkaban", Sirius replied darkly.

"Shit Sirius, don't worry about that! People know you're innocent now, we'd bail you out! There's no way I'm letting stay in Azkaban again."

The pre-Azkaban Sirius would have made a comment about Remus acting his mother, but the post-Azkaban Sirius was deeply grateful.

Midmorning they received a phoenix patronus saying there would be an Order meeting at Grimmauld Place later that day.

Until then, Remus managed to brew a decent hangover potion for Sirius, who was laying face down on the couch.

When evening rolled around, the order arrived in groups.

Looking around, Remus noticed Mad-eye Moody enter Grimmauld Place. He moved forward to briefly grasp hands, before Moody joined the more senior order members. Remus went forward to close the door after Mad-eye, as everyone he knew of had arrived. However, a petite witch with bubblegum pink hair followed Mad-eye though the door, looking around before stumbling over the doorway and into Remus' arms.

"Sorry, I'm clumsy as hell; I tend to make graceful entrances."

"As demonstrated" Remus replied, smiling, a cheeky glint in his eye.

She raised her eyebrows, despite a smile forming.

"I'm Tonks"

"Remus Lupin. How do you know Mad-eye?"

"We work together; he helped me get through Auror training."

"Auror, huh? Well he didn't a good job in training you for Stealth and Tracking."

"I'm a bit of a hopeless case-", she cut off, catching sight of something, or some_one_ behind Remus. Realizing that is it was Sirius, he thought he would have to explain a thing or to, until Tonks' smile grew wider and she hurried forward, squealing "Sirius!" and drawing him into a tight hug.

"It's good to see you again", she said on release.

"Tonks!" He exclaimed, equality delighted, staring at her, "Shit! It's been a while."

"Yeah, I don't exactly need babysitting anymore."

Tonks turned back to face Remus.

"Remus, shall I introduce you to my cousin's daughter?"

"Cousin's… but aren't your cousins Bellatrix's and Narcissa's?" Remus replied, with a glance in Sirius' direction.

"Mostly, yeah", Sirius replied with distaste, "but their sister had the decency to screw them all and marry a muggleborn."

"I hardly think that Bellatrix would call Mum her sister after that" Tonks chimed in.

"Do you remember Andromeda? Or Ted Tonks?" Sirius asked.

"Ted Tonks, I don't think so. Andromeda… I think I met her at your house once? Long, dark hair?"

"Yeah that's the one."

Soon after this revelation, everyone sat, Tonks in between Sirius and Remus, and the meeting began, Dumbledore introducing Tonks and someone else called Mundungus, who had just entered Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

After a meeting mostly about the ministry's attitude and the position of Snape (who was not at the meeting) as spy against the Death Eaters, the volume of chat gradually increased.

Remus and Sirius were debating about Snape, Sirius very stubbornly so.

"He's not _that _bad. You know he made my potion for a whole school year?"

"Well, he would hardly tamper with it with Dumbledore around."

"Dumbledore says he's changed sides so…"

"From what I saw of him, he's hardly changed, still as much of a slime-ball as ever, Moony!"

"Moony?" Tonks said curiously.

Realizing that Remus would not be answering this question Sirius replied with, "He's rather well acquainted with the moon."

"I'd say it's more of enemies, only he definitely has the upper hand", Remus replied.

"Werewolf", Sirius added at Tonks' obvious confusion.

"Oh! Well, I guess that explains the scars."

"Chicks dig scars", Sirius interjected.

"Yeah, it gives me pleasure to know that they've felt some pain", Tonks shot sarcastically at Sirius.

"Yeah, girls are a bit sadistic", Sirius replied.

"Must explain my luck with women", Remus added.

Tonks felt her heart sink, before realizing he was joking.

"Knowing some girls, I don't think it would hurt", Tonks said quickly.

"Perhaps, if I'd got them heroically saving small children, rather than clawing myself every full moon", Remus replied darkly, "Generally _werewolf turns_ people off pretty quickly."

"It shouldn't! It's only one night a month." Tonks replied, before quickly morphing the blush from her face.

"Most people don't see it that way", Remus said with a sad smile.

Meanwhile, Mundungus, who was sitting on Sirius' other side, was looking around had asked, "Whose house is this?"

Once Sirius became preoccupied with the smelly wizard, Tonks leaned in towards Remus and asked quietly, glancing at Sirius "How's he doing?"

Remus opened his mouth, "Uh, well not too bad, considering. He hides it, I can tell. But he does sleep with a knife, scream in his sleep and last night he got so smashed he passed out. Well, that shouldn't take much after Azkaban, there's hardly an open bar there."

Tonks looking concerned, replied softly, "Look after him, yeah?"

At Remus' curt nod, she smiled at him, "Look after yourself too, Moony."

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and favoriting, I'm very flattered!**

**Tonks will be a main character, but that DOES NOT mean that there will be less Sirius or that this will turn into a cheesy, fluffy romance.**


	5. Owing and repaying

**A/N: Yes, it's been a while. Yes, I promised regular updates. Yes, I'm sorry. But before you throw your pitchforks and call me a hypocrite, I do have an honest reason: My external hard-drive crashed. And my external hard-drive holds EVERYTHING: All my music, podcasts, photos, school work, and yes, FANFICTION. Some of it was already uploaded but I don't always write in order. I'd already written a large chunk of Christmas HBP-ish and I was really, really happy with it. I'm still working on getting my hand-drive files back, but until then, I'm going to be writing this chapter from scratch. Either way, I hope you enjoy it.**

A couple of unexpected things happened the next morning. Firstly, Sirius had a good sleep, the first one for longer than he would like to admit. Secondly, Remus was not up early sipping his tea, he had slept in. And Sirius was familiar enough with Remus' patterns and smart enough to realise what this meant: the full moon.

By the time Remus descended the crooked stairs into the dining room Sirius had searched the house for a Lunascope to confirm his theory and hatched a plan to help Remus. After all, Sirius thought, he definitely owed Remus for the dreamless sleep potion.

Remus descended the stairs, sweeping his greying, messy hair from his eyes, Sirius sat at the dining room table, waiting and ready to spring his plan of action to Remus. Yawning and tousle-haired Remus didn't notice Sirius until Sirius had let out a cough that meant business.

"Moony," started Sirius, a cheeky grin on his face, "Bit of a sleep-in, eh? Your routines don't change a bit."

Remus grimaced, pointed his wand at the kettle and joined Sirius at the table, "It's the moon's routines that don't chance. I'm just tagged along for the ride."

"Any plans for said ride then", Sirius asked hopefully.

"Sirius", Remus started after glancing up at Sirius' mischievous expression.

"No, no," Sirius quickly replied in an innocent tone, "What were you planning to do? Where do you normally transform?"

After a moment of Remus gazing at Sirius and Sirius gazing all too innocently back, Remus said, "I've been using an abandoned shed; magically enforced and ministry approved. And I attend to use it tonight also. Don't even think that you can control me by yourself, or that I'm as foolish as I was at the age of 15 to think that nothing would ever happen and that the Marauders would always be there to stop anything bad from happening."

After a pause, Sirius replied, "I may not be able to keep you from everyone, but I can distract you from yourself and keep you calm."

"Padfoot," Remus said shortly, pausing, before continuing, "I appreciate the...gesture, but I'm fine, I'll be fine, I've always been fine. I won't be fine, however, if the ministry decides to check that I transformed there like I said I would. They say that sometimes they check to see."

"So what if they do! You'll be there, all lovely and locked up for them to have a nice look at."

"Sirius, if they came, and you were there-"

"I'd be in dog form!"

"I'm meant to be alone to transform!"

"They're not going to check. Have they ever checked? And regardless, I'll put up some spells to warn us if anyone is nearby-"

"They can track those."

"You can claim them as part of your defensive spells. They'll believe you if you spin it right."

"I'm delusional after transformations, Padfoot. I'm hardly going to be ready to spin some justification."

'Has anyone from the ministry EVER checked, Moony? Ever?"

"No, but-"

"It'll be fine. So whereabouts is this shed?"

"Sirius, you're not allowed out, _especially_ not for one of my transformation."

"Says who, the ministry, the dementors?"

"Dumbledore!"

And Sirius knew then and there that when Dumbledore was brought into the conversion, Remus would never, ever budge. Because Dumbledore allowing him to go to Hogwarts was something that he did at personal risk, that no one expected of him and Remus was still extremely guilty of betraying his trust at Hogwarts. Sure enough, when Sirius left out a sigh...

"Sirius, I can't betray his trust again. He gave me the opportunity of any normal boy; imagine what that would have done for him if people found out: The parents' reactions! And the ministry... And then all I did was lead you 3 to become ___Animagi illegally, which allowed Pettigrew to frame you, and blame you for the Potters death and here we are, after you spent 12 years in Azkaban and my furry little problem allows Peter to escape to go back to Voldemort and help him return to power!"_

___Finally out of breath, Remus stopped, one hand tugging unawares through his hair._

_"__Remus", Sirius replied, shocked by the outburst, "only you could blame yourself for singlehandedly bringing back Voldemort."_

_"__Well, it's true", Remus said shortly._

_"__No, Remus, it's not! I don't blame Peter's mum for any of this, but if she used the fucking contraceptive charm 35 years ago, Voldemort wouldn't be back right now! I don't blame Harry for any of this, but if he let us kill Peter, we wouldn't be here! I don't blame Buckbeak, but if he fucking ATE that stupid rat, THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED! Remus, you CAN'T blame yourself for that, if you weren't there being reasonable, as always, Harry wouldn't understand what happened, he would have thought I was fucking crazy for killing his mate's rat! And Harry understanding means everything right now."_

___There was a pause where Remus stared at the table and Sirius at Remus. Remus glanced up at Sirius and quickly got up to avoid his gaze, choosing to busy himself with his tea instead._

_"__Fuck", Sirius thought to himself, "now he's emotional. He always hurts himself more at full moons when he's emotional. I try to make him calm for his transformations, but instead I get him all worked up."_

___Remus sat down with his tea, making a point to look at Sirius._

_"__Fuck, Remus, please don't blame yourself. You're the most consistently decent person I know", Sirius said, before silently adding, "A consistently decent person that I still owe..."_

A simple apparition tracking charm, stealth sensoring spells (around the borders of surrounding house to not draw attention to the particular shed Remus transforms in) and use of the old family invisibility cloak later, allowed Sirius to apparate directly after Remus. He needed to apparate as soon as possible to ensure that he apparated before Remus put up anti-apparition charms.

Sirius found that Remus apparated directly into the shed, as he found himself inside a small, dusty, dark shed. There were a few taped up and unmarked boxes in the corner and an old beaten up couch, with bite marks and scratches reminiscent of the Shrieking Shack. Remus turned on the light and pulled out his wand, and muttered various spells to enforce the small shed against the wolf.

Remus then sat down on the battered couch, waiting, feeling the pulling of the moon, despite the lightness of the sky that neither man could see. Sirius felt as though he was intruding on something very private as Remus shivered head in hands on the couch waiting to lose control. As the trembles increased, Remus got up and undressed, putting his clothes and wand in a magically-enforced box. Sirius, though he felt like he was intruding more while Remus sat fully clothed, avoided looking at Remus though he soon turned off the light anyway.

Remus became preoccupied with pacing the shed between violent trembles as Sirius decided it was about time to lose the invisibility cloak (it was dark enough to make it unnecessary) and he placed it, along with his wand, in the same box that contained Remus' clothes and wand. Sirius became Padfoot and Remus slowly, painfully and forcefully became Moony. Almost like old times.

**A/N: I won't lie, I was a little tempted to describe naked Remus in great depth, but it would have drawn far too much attention to the fact that Remus is naked in a room with Sirius and this fic already has a lot of Remus/Sirius innuendo despite the fact that this is a Remus/Tonks fic.**

**Please tell me what you think!**


	6. Some things never change

**A/N: Thank you to my amazing beta and all-round awesome friend Emma aka anabundanceofnifflers (morenifflers on twitter). Hopefully this chapter will be absent of the spelling mistakes and excess of commas that my fics usually have. So if you notice any errors, it's her job on the line (it's very high paying).**

**The high paying is sarcasm. I'm not Jo Rowling. I make no money. My only profit is the encouragement of readers (which I'm very grateful for). **

**Enjoy!**

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* * *

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**CHAPTER 6: Some things never change**

Remus woke up and became aware of his surroundings, feeling the ground of the dusty shed he was laying on. He slowly and carefully tried, despite his headache, to notice any obvious injuries, feeling for broken bones or heavy bleeding. To his surprise, he didn't feel too bad, injury-wise. Sure, there was the usual aching in his bones, tiredness, and headache, but aside from that he felt fine, surprisingly fine. Smiling slightly, he got up slowly, before he froze, remembering yesterday's conversation with Sirius. He felt too fine, suspiciously fine.

"Padfoot, I swear to God-", he muttered to himself as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Yes, Moony," Sirius replied innocently. "How are you feeling?"

Remus didn't reply. He was tempted to go on a rant, but his headache was protesting and he really couldn't be bothered. So silence it was.

Sirius stopped himself from saying something to provoke a response. "No lecture today, Professor?" came to mind, but aside from being immature (as if that would ever stop him) he reminded himself that he did not want to provoke a response. He decided to throw Remus's clothes at him instead.

Sirius was unsure whether or not he should expect a lecture. Aftersevenyears together at Hogwarts with him, Remus was not going to bother wasting his breath. Regardless, there was nothing to say that both of them did not already know.

* * *

Remus, though uninjured, spent most of the day resting. Constantly switching betweentrying to sleep, deciding that he wouldn't be able to, to readingonly to decide that he might be able to sleep. This seemed to amuse Sirius enough to allow him to do absolutely nothing aside from the odd glance at Remus. It only occurred to Remus later that there was nothing for Sirius to do.

Both Remus and Sirius didn't notice the note arrive on the table at Grimmauld Place which read:

Potter has safely arrived at 4 Privet Drive. I've placed alert charms to know when he leaves the house and therefore the protection, when this happens a member of the Order will follow him for protection. Each Order member has time slots to follow him if he leaves the house (see below). Do not make your presence know to Potter unless it is necessary.

-KS

Sirius read the note first before scrunching it up and throwing it to Remus. Remus flattened it, scanned it briefly, noticing that Sirius had not been given any time slots though that was expected, then glanced up at Sirius, who was looking away.

"Harry hates it there. I don't trust those Dursleys, not in a million years. Why can't we just bring him here? It's safe, we won't have to use Order members' time to protect someone somewhere where he doesn't want to even be." Sirius said leveled though Remus could sense the underlying pleading tone.

"I'm not sure. I really can't see why not. I mean, even if Dumbledore doesn't want Harry to know much about the Order-"

"What do you mean? Of course Harry is going to have to know about what the Order is doing. He saw Voldemort return! He's not going to forget that and move on with his life."

"I know he's not. But he's 14, that's still very young, technically a child," Remus replied calmly.

"He's been through far more than most 14 year olds. He deserves to know what is going on," Sirius countered. "Besides," he continued, a note of triumph in his voice, "if he's technically a child, I'm his godfather, I decide. And I'm deciding that Harry deserves to know!"

"I'm not the one you have to prove your point to," Remus reminded him, "though I'd prefer if Harry didn't grow up so fast."

"I know", Sirius replied sadly. "Though hiding things from him isn't going to stop it. It's only going to insult his intelligence and confuse things. We should be able to trust each other."

* * *

It had been around 20 minutes since Harry had left 4 Privet Drive under Remus's watch. He had apparated far away enough for the occupants of 4 Privet Drive to not hear the crack from apparating and close enough to ensure Harry didn't wander off leaving Remus left behind, unsure as to where he had gone.

* * *

Remus was right, Sirius acknowledged. It was not Remus to whom he should be pleading his case to. It was Dumbledore.

* * *

Since then, Remus had followed Harry through Surrey as he scavenged a newspaper, flicked through it on a park bench before miserably throwing it away.

* * *

Dumbledore deliberated, his long fingers painstakingly stretching, the tips absentmindedly caressing the Grimmauld Place table as he stood watching Sirius.

* * *

Remus realized what Harry was doing only after he had thrown out the paper. Why else would Harry be reading the paper? It was not as if Muggle celebrity breakups, petty politicians toeing the party line, and aggressive sports teams greatly affected Harry's life.

* * *

"I'm sure you're aware of the protective charm I left on Harry, a charm to seal the protection left by Lily that is shared through blood by her sister, Petunia," Dumbledore said calmly, his blue eyes piercing Sirius's.

* * *

No, it was obvious that Harry was looking for news on Voldemort- odd disappearances, unexplained murders. Perhaps he was expecting photos of Voldemort to feature in the paper, like those of Sirius years prior.

* * *

"So he's protected when he's in the house, that's your justification? He could be safe in this house, and you wouldn't need to get people to tail him when he wants some air."

* * *

Remus knew Sirius was right; hiding anything from Harry was just a betrayal of trust. Harry wanted to know what was going on and was probably going to find out regardless of whether or not Dumbledore wanted him to. Remus preferred Harry to find out information from the Order rather than various twisted fragments of the truth. He wanted Harry to be able to trust them. Secrets and hiding, that was where it had gone wrong for Remus.

* * *

"You know as well as I do that the Dursley's don't treat him like family."

* * *

Remus had tortured himself for far too long thinking about if he hadn't waited so long to tell the other Marauder's about his work for the Order with the werewolves because he was ashamed. Then James and Sirius wouldn't have had a reason to suspect Remus over Peter. If Remus hadn't been embarrassed as he struggled to get a job due to his condition while James and Sirius became close to becoming Aurors before deciding that their time would be better spent working for the Order (neither had ever had to deal with the money concerns that Remus had) he wouldn't have kept to himself as much and James and Sirius might have realized that it was Peter.

* * *

"I've had enough with being isolated. From what I've heard of the Dursleys, so has Harry!" Sirius's frustration peaked as he continued, "Why must you insist on locking us up?"

* * *

"'Hindsight is the time machine; you will live certain perils over and over, but the second time around will be more painful than the first'", Remus quoted to himself (David Jonathan Newman). Of all people, Remus Lupin did not need to be told the pains of hindsight.

* * *

"Isolating Harry is not my intention," Dumbledore said so calmly it seemed to be taunting him. "Harry's safety is. I'd prefer if Harry wasn't told more than he needs to know."

* * *

He hated seeing Harry alone, sitting glumly on the seat. He hated that he couldn't go over and talk to Harry. He hated that both Harry and Sirius had to be locked up, but he hated even more that they weren't allowed to at least be locked up together.

* * *

Sirius found that he was alone again.

* * *

Some things never change. Remus could only hope that they had learnt from the past.

* * *

**A/N: I hope that last little section wasn't too confusing, if your still wondering what happened, the story kept switching point of view (between Remus following Harry and reflecting and Sirius who was trying to convince Dumbledore to let Harry leave Privet Drive).**

**Reviews make me smile.**


	7. The Art of Nose Licking

**CHAPTER 7: The art of nose-licking**

Remus heard a knock at the door. He had been surprised; the meeting scheduled for the evening didn't start for another half hour.

He'd opened the door to find a knit-wear clad, red-headed figure of Molly Weasley.

"Hello Remus."

"Hi Molly" Remus said as he held the door open for her, "You know that the meeting isn't for another 30 minutes?"

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to talk to you before the meeting. Is Sirius here?"

"He's just upstairs feeding Buckbeak." At Molly's look of confused he clarified, "Hippogriff. Should I go and get him."

"No, no, it's fine. I just- did you know that Dumbledore intends for us to move into Grimmauld Place?"

"It's news to me", Remus said slowly, "Along with the red army?"

Molly gave a chuckle and nodded.

"Well there's plenty of room here, even if it is a bit-"

"Creepy?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I don't think the _house_ would be giving them nightmares. Ginny-"

He stopped abruptly as Molly shuddered and it took a second to realize why as he remembered Minerva explaining to him why Ginny Weasley would be behind in defense against the dark arts.

"Oh! I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry. I meant Ginny may be young, but she's not stupid. She knows what's going on and it's expected to be scared of it. Whereas a house…" Remus hoped that it didn't come out as tactless as it sounded to himself. "Besides, this house would be far less creepy when it's filled with the likes of Fred and George Weasley."

"They're not all like Fred and George, they always seem to find something to disagree about, especially Percy. The only time I've heard them agree on one thing was how much of a fantastic teacher you were."

Remus wasn't exactly sure how to respond. His subconscious responded instantly, _too bad I screwed it all up and almost bit your son. He could have become a werewolf and it would be completely my fault_. He shook himself mentally and forced a smile, because that's what you're meant to do after a complement.

"I won't say I wasn't shocked at a werewolf teaching at Hogwarts at first, but I _am_ sorry I jumped to conclusions."

_If only you knew_, thought Remus darkly. He smiled at Molly and urged himself to remember that she was being _nice_.

"I wanted to check if you were okay with everyone moving in and Sirius too." Molly paused before continuing, "Dumbledore doesn't always ask first and while living at Grimmauld Place is more convenient, I don't want to intrude."

"Thanks Molly," Remus replied sincerely, "I'm sure Sirius would like, well, more people in this old house wouldn't do him any harm.

A brief pause ensued before Remus asked, "Would you like some tea before the meeting?"

* * *

Remus remembered when the Marauders first became involved in the Order.

James always knew when to stop joking around. His determination to do the right thing combined with his disgust that some people would have thought Lily to be worth dirt due to her blood type motivated him to become involved in the Order.

Sirius, driven by his long-suppressed (to an extent) disgust of his family knew how deep the hate lay: it had surrounded him until he was 11.

Peter, oh Peter, overwhelmed and attempting to crack a joke to lighten the mood. It was no such time.

But when there they needed to avoid sinking to deep in the doom and gloom of incoming genocide, murders and war, James and Sirius maintained the fight against evil as a journey of bravery and thrills.

It was in the middle of what was possibly the most boring Order meeting of all time that he remembered them and felt both so far away and so close at the same time.

* * *

Remus and Sirius waited in silence as they heard the order file out downstairs, the noise of the door opening and closing drowned out by the voices of various order members: Moody's growl, Kingsley's deep, calm voice. The final close of the door echoed through Grimmauld Place, leaving Sirius and Remus alone in the meeting room.

They were not the only people in the house as they heard a flushing toilet from across the hallway. Sirius was still sitting at the order meeting table yawning and scrunching his hair, while Remus peered out to look through the open doorway to see one Severus Snape descend the stairs.

However, to Remus' surprise, Snape, rather than walking right past with his nose in the air and ignoring the two other men, turned into the meeting hall and stalked right up to Remus. Staring Remus down, he leaned in until Remus could see pores on his pale, greasy face.

Remus quickly leaned back saying, "Snape, what-"

Remus broke off as Snape _licked_, actually _licked_ the end of his nose lightly.

"What the fuck!" Sirius proclaimed as he drew his wand from his pocket.

Sirius' expression changed quickly from bewilderment to shock as the greasy, sallow faced wizard in front of him melted into a shorter, pink-haired witch who was grinning mischievously.

"Social experiment," She proclaimed, giggling at the look of shock on the both the men's faces.

"That was brilliant, Tonks!" Sirius barked, as he watched Remus' bewildered expression.

"Cheers," Tonks said grinning, "I was considering doing it to you but I really didn't want to get myself murdered or grievously injured."

Remus had finally managed to change his expression, as Tonks transfigured her clothes from the plain black robes.

"I think you're the first person to see Snape that close up," Sirius said.

"Eugh", Remus said, "I don't want to think about that!"

"Mmm, slimy and greasy, what's not to love?" Sirius added.

"Do you do that often?" Remus said, ignoring Sirius.

"You, Remus Lupin, are the first", Tonks said, then continued with a cheeky grin, "I'm fairly selective about the noses I lick. Or perhaps I was driven to insanity by that bore of a meeting."

"You don't have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?" Sirius added, eying her short pink hair.

"I have a boyfriend, but nose-licking, really Sirius? Is that would you did with your girlfriends? Or do with your boyfriend?" Tonks added with a cheeky glance at Remus.

"I'm definitely not part of any nose-lickings that may or may not have occurred," Remus interjected.

"Only in dog form," Sirius replied. "So this boyfriend…?"

"Is new, therefore not a massive part of my life, therefore as absolutely no part in yours", Tonks replied, "He doesn't know about the Order."

"Do many of your friends?" Remus asked.

"No", Tonks sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs, "I've been considering telling a few but I'm really not sure yet."

"I can't say I've ever had that problem", Remus said, "All of my friends were in the Order-"

"-which worked out brilliantly for you." Sirius added darkly.

A silence followed and Tonks felt like she was intruding. She made a mental note to ask about it later if the time came. It didn't seem like something to push.

Remus sighed before asking, "Are you staying, Nymphadora? Did you want a drink or something?"

""It's Tonks", Tonks said, "And I should probably get going. I have to get to work early tomorrow and I'm no fun when I tired."

She paused, glancing out the window framed in black willowy curtains, "I'll see you both later."

* * *

**A/N: I'm sure everyone has felt the pull to do something a little crazy after a delayed mundane activity. Don't worry about Tonks' boyfriend, he's a blatant plot device. Regarding Sirius' somewhat dark humor, it's a bit of a comparison to Harry as there are a lot of similarities between them. Also, I like to constantly bring up Remus/Sirius as a bit of a running joke, just because I actually really like it even though it directly contradicts my favorite pairing of all time. (I have no idea if you find these tidbits interesting but I thought I'd share them.)**

**Sorry this chapter is a bit disconnected. I hope you're all well. **

**Reviews are very, very much appreciated!**

**Hang in there for the next chapter in which Percy is a prat.**

_[So I only just discovered that fanfiction(dot)net removes things such as asterixes and whatnot when you use them as page breaks. So now we have these LOVELY (sarcasm) gray lines. I hate them. But apparently it causes fanfiction(dot)net to be in great pain if I use an asterix. If any authors have something else I can use for a page break PLEASE LET ME KNOW.]  
_


	8. Unworthy Gryffindors

**Chapter 8: Unworthy Gryffindors**

Although most of the previous meeting was a blur due, Remus did remember one thing: Molly was right about the Weasleys moving into Grimmauld Place.

Sirius was on the fence about it. Remus could sympathize, he knew that the house could do with a few more people, but also that Sirius wanted to be in control, at least in his own house, especially since he was denied control in his own life.

On the night before the Weasleys moved in Sirius brought out the firewhiskey and snorted at Remus raised eyebrow.

I m old enough to drink, Professor.

Remus expression however, did not change and Sirius hastened to add, It s one bottle, Moony!

Despite their firewhiskey track record, they had managed to have a fairly good time, both enjoying reminiscing. But every happy memory was a reminder of their losses, losses which had an increasing prominence in the room that both men were aware of.

The silence stretched out after a final story. The elephant in the room was in both their minds.

Peter , muttered Remus, expressionless.

A small silence ensued before Sirius words came out in a rush, Why did he do it, Moony?

Remus hand shook slightly as he lowered his glass.

Remus sounded tired when he answered, and paused in between each word as though he was choosing each word carefully.

It probably felt like the easier thing to do at the time, even at the cost of abandoning us.

Not abandoning , Sirius corrected Remus furiously, Betraying; leading James and Lily to death, me to Azkaban and you

And me. Remus repeated, I can t justify it, Sirius. Nor do I particularly want to.

They sat in silence. Sirius downed the last of the firewhiskey.

I m going to turn in for the night , Remus said slowly, deliberating as a watched Sirius. He glanced a Sirius as he left, empty glass in hand.

Sirius sat in the silence and observed the now empty firewhiskey bottle. The stillness of everything screamed at him: the stillness of the table, the couch, the firewhiskey bottle, and he wondered how Remus could handle everything so calmly when he heard a brief smash upstairs before his tiredness overcame him.

The next morning, Sirius didn t remember the smash until he saw the glass from which Remus had been drinking in pieces. He wondered why Remus didn t simply use reparo. But after staring at the pieces he realized that he couldn t bring himself to repair it either.

* * *

When the Weasleys arrived at Grimmauld Place however, they were not the cheerful bunch that Remus thought would brighten the place up.

Aside from being short in spirit, Remus quickly noticed that they were one short in number.

Remus had held the door open as they came through each with their own battered trunk and grim expressions aside from Molly, who was silently crying.

Ginny managed a brief, genuine smile upon seeing him. She had gotten on particularly well him at Hogwarts and had sent him a letter just after he had left Hogwarts saying that she didn t care that he was a werewolf which he had responded to by thanking her but conceding that most people unfortunately didn t think the same way.

What s going on? Remus asked, directing his question to Arthur who, judging from his straight face, seemed like a better person to ask compared to Fred or George who were wearing identical, ugly expressions.

Noticing the shortage, he added more urgently, Where s Percy?

Molly became unable to keep her tears silent.

Remus ushered Molly into the gloomy house where she ended up crying on his shoulder while Remus reassured her quietly, He ll come around; he ll realize his priorities.

Although Remus had only taught for a year, he knew of Percy s high ambitions in the ministry and had connected the dots.

Meanwhile, Sirius had come downstairs and had entered to find a lounge room of red heads. He noted that the twins looked rather like Fabian Prewett aside from the stony expressions that were currently taking residence on their faces.

Ron! he said, recognizing him at once.

He was met with a fairly unenthusiastic, Hello Sirius , in return.

Where are your parents?

Probably still by the door and probably still crying , One of the twins responded.

Sirius looked from the twin to Ron, What s going on?

Percy s a git , Ron answered, before adding at Sirius blank expression, My- , he hesitated, brother .

It was obvious that the Weasley s were best left alone. Sirius reassuring ability left a lot to be desired (after 13 years with nothing but dementors and half-mad death eaters it was hardly surprising).

Sirius evacuated to his room long before Remus, who came upstairs after about an hour of comforting Molly Weasley, 4 cups of tea and use of a lot of repetitive phases such as, truth will come out in the end.

A single, quiet knock on Sirius door later and they were both sitting in silence in Sirius bedroom.

And Harry always made the Weasley s sound like the perfect, fantasy family Sirius said, breaking the rather morbid silence.

Compared to what Harry s used to, they probably are.

At Sirius obvious discomfort, Remus continued, They all have their flaws. Percy s ambitiousness was usually just something that helped him try harder. Is Percy the eldest?

No, he s the 3rd eldest; he was in seventh year when I taught.

Well, let s hope the others don t look up to him too much, although they seem pretty pissed off at him earlier.

I don t think they did, even though Percy and his parent s might have hoped the too before-

Before this blatantly obvious example of someone s ambitions being far too important than whatever the hell he stood for. What s even the point of getting power for the sake of getting power?

Remus shrugged before answering, Regardless, I think Ron has more sense.

And is actually deserving of being a Gryffindor. Well, it s apparent that the fucking rat didn t influence him.

Didn t Pettigrew used to be Percy s rat?

Why am I not surprised? He spend too much time with that fucking rat, it s rubbed off on him , Sirius said disgustedly.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, the number of times I opened this word doc to write this chapter and just ended up either deleting everything I wrote or writing nothing at all. I hope it s okay, I m not thrilled with it but it s going to do.**

**Please review! *begs and pleads***


	9. The Desired Effect

**CHAPTER 9: The Desired Effect**

All things considered, the Weasleys didn't have the desired effect on the overall mood of number 12 Grimmauld Place. Perhaps that was the reason that Remus was thrilled to open the door on early Saturday morning to find one Nymphadora Tonks, her now curly, red hair windswept and eyes a green to rival those of Harry Potter. Somehow, Nymphadora Tonks seemed always to be herself, even when wearing different hair and someone else's eyes. Perhaps it was her striking smile that she always seemed to have ready to share, which she was currently gracing Remus Lupin with.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Remus stood back and held the door for the young auror to enter before following to the lounge room where Sirius they found Sirius lounging across a black leather sofa, his hair in every direction. His hair seemed to shiver as Sirius ran his hand slowly through it while he yawned with a bored expression fixed upon his once handsome features. Noticing Tonks, he smiled widely and sat up and removed his feet from the sofa.

"Tonks! Good to see you, cousin", he said, gesturing for Remus and Tonks to sit in the sofa opposite him.

"You too!" Tonks replied enthusiastically, "Sorry I haven't been able to come until now, I've been really busy."

"What have you been up to? Boyfriend been keeping you busy?" Asked Sirius with raised eyebrows.

"No," said Tonks shortly before continuing bitterly, "the exciting, crime-fighting auror department has been."

"Minus the crime-fighting", said Remus sighing.

"And the exciting bit too. The most exciting bit about my job is the coffee break. And by coffee break, I mean coffee break for people with poor taste and hot chocolate for _me._"

"Finally someone with good taste!" Remus exclaimed, "Unlike this sod over here", he said as he pointed at Sirius.

"Coffee is for the more sophisticated", said Sirius with a fake accent as he brushed his hair back dramatically.

Tonks snorted in laughter, "Yeah, sophisticated, sure."

"So, you haven't seen this boyfriend?"

"Not in the last few days, no," replied Tonks absent-mindedly while she adjusted her hair color while examining it in a forgotten spoon, "Why are you so interested?"

"I need someone to have a love-life to vicariously live through", Sirius replied with a shrug.

At Tonks' half glance at Remus, Sirius snorted, "Yeah, Remus as an extremely active love-life. Everything fell apart without the help of the Casanova of London."

There was a short pause as both men considered the truth in this statement, before continuing, "Those were the days when the action I got was just a little more than a muggle leg while transformed."

"Sirius, really?" Remus said, shutting his eyes briefly, "Is that information you have to disclose?"

"Right, well moving on from that charming topic", Tonks interjected, "What have you been doing?"

She directed the question at Remus, but Sirius answered anyway, "Nothing! I've been locked up in a house that I hate, remember!"

After a pause Remus answered, "Not much more than Sirius, really."

"No job?" Tonks asked.

Remus regarded her shrewdly, "Do you know anyone hiring werewolves?"

"No," Tonks admitted, "Do you have to say that you're a werewolf?"

"Yes," answered Remus, "And ever since my stint at Hogwarts, someone from the Werewolf Registration has to come for inspection to confirm that the job is suitable for a werewolf. So most people just can't be bothered with the paper work when to job is such an unimportant one as it usually is."

"What about before your stint at school?" Tonks asked.

"I was abroad for a lot of it, less restrictions", Remus paused before continuing, "And less people would corner me and accuse me of murdering James and Lily or working with Sirius."

There was a brief pause where Remus and Sirius held eye-contact. Tonks, feeling like she was intruding on something private looked away until Remus continued, "I worked with magical creatures and tutored children when there were job opportunities. The ministry as been increasing the age of children I can work with. By the end of the year it will probably be illegal for me to work with children at all."

His tone sounded bitter. Tonks knew of Remus' talent as a teacher and thought it was a shame that people's uninformed prejudices could shun a man from his talents.

"Regardless, I daresay the Order will be keeping me busy soon anyways." Remus said with a half glance at Sirius, who shrugged though a bitter expression had recently taken form on his face.

A brief pause ensued because Sirius decided to break it by asking Tonks what house she was sorted in at Hogwarts. At Tonks' reply of Hufflepuff, Sirius snorted.

"Pfft, Hufflepuff?" Sirius asked incredulously, "After last weeks' display, I was about to put money on Gryffindor. Really, Hufflepuff! You boring lot!"

Sirius paused as Tonks threw a pillow which hit him square on the face.

"No excitement or stories at all. A metamorphamagus in Hufflepuff is such a waste. Think of the possibilities if she was Gryffindor, imagine the brilliance we could achieved with her skill, Remus!"

"You mean that we didn't get up to enough, err, _brilliance_", Remus replied, "If _brilliance_ is what you want to call it."

'Don't be a prat, Sirius!" Tonks pressed, "Us 'puffs got up to loads. It's just not our aim to get caught to brag our doings to the entire school. It's good to keep a low profile so it gets blamed on the Gryffindors."

Sirius snorted again.

"Yes, Nympha_dora_", he said mockingly, "I'm sure you have loads of _brilliant_ stories to rival those of the kings of trickery."

"I'm glad you said that Sirius", Said Tonks cuttingly, "I could begin with the time in our 4th year..."

Though Remus didn't participate much in the comparing of school stories, he was glad that company finally had the desired effect on Sirius who was smiling and laughing as much as Tonks. He hoped that Tonks could come around more often; it would be nice to see that smile more often. It wasn't Sirius' smile he found himself staring at.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review: feedback will help me improve the story. Do you think it's moving too slowly? Do you think I write each character in character or do you think I'm missing an aspect of their character? Even a one word review is either helpful or encouraging.**


	10. Purpose

**CHAPTER ****10: Purpose **

Sirius' cheerful moods become fewer and further in between as the month went on, spurred on by letters from his Godson who was still forced to stay at Privet Drive.

Order meetings became longer winded and new members came from Dumbledore's invite. Sirius was fairly indifferent to it all, until to new member's began to awake his mother's old portrait. Her annoyance had first brought about a delight in Sirius, but that joy had faded and now his mother's annoyance only became reflected in him as he found himself wrenching the curtains back shut time and time again.

Another day, another set of screaming from his dear mother, another time to pull the curtains shut: no longer were Sirius' days marked by the colours of the open sky.

One of the new members that had a habit of waking up Sirius' dear, old mother was Mundungus. He had jumped a mile when he first saw Sirius, then proceeded to search in a large number of oddly lumpy pockets for his wand before someone remembered to inform him of Sirius' innocence.

Oddly enough, Mundungus interact with Sirius as he noticed more and more of the house.

Meanwhile, the constant presence of the Weasleys had not only meant an increase in mysterious explosions from the twins' room, but an increase in delicious meals being forced upon Remus courtesy of Molly Weasley. Remus had noticed that Molly had not been as insistent towards Sirius as she had Remus, despite Sirius emancipation from 12 years in Azkaban plus a year of living off mostly rats.

Despite the increase in people, Sirius often sought company of Buckbeak and locked himself up in his mother's room for hours at a time. He also began to transform into Padfoot to escape his increasingly claustrophobic mind.

"Is he alright?" Ron had asked one afternoon when Sirius had disappeared yet again.

"Hmm?" Remus lowered the report he was reading and looked up.

"Sirius," Ron specified, "Is he okay?"

"Well", he replied, considering slowly, "His family house isn't his favourite place to be locked up in. He's just frustrated and worried about Harry, too."

His worry for Harry and his frustration at being trapped in a home he hated fed off each other. Harry was never far from his mind. Every time that Sirius became frustrated from his situation it lead to the realization that Harry was in the same situation. Frustration grew and became bitter towards the headmaster who would refuse to move Harry and give no explanation aside from safety. Grimmauld Place was deemed safe enough for Sirius' imprisonment, he had thought bitterly.

Remus' dread grew steadily along with the closeness of the next full moon. He dreaded being pushed from his mind, all the while as Sirius became increasing desperate to escape bitter entrapment of his mind.

Remus' dread was greatly lessened as he discovered that, to Snape's bitterness, Snape had been ordered to brew wolfsbane for him regularly.

Snape had always made sure to wear his most pronounced sneer when handing the wolfsbane over silently, his lip curling. Remus had been sure to thank him.

Sirius had remained silent on this new development. He did not ask Remus to let him accompany him during the full moon. The only time they had touched on the topic was after Sirius had come downstairs after Snape had handed over the Wolfsbane and left.

Sirius had eyed the potion with distrust upon knowing who had brewed it and clearly remembering the brewer's personal eagerness for Remus to lose his soul.

"Does it... help?" Sirius asked.

"Very much so", he answered quietly, "It allows me to kind my mind when I transform."

"I had wondered why you didn't transform in the Shrieking Shack", Sirius said.

Remus looked up sharply.

"I thought they didn't want you transforming on the grounds so they flooed you somewhere else."

"Were you going to… accompany me?" Remus asked.

"I decided that I wouldn't. I didn't want you to choose between helping me and being honest with everyone else", he paused before adding, "In saying that, I was near the shack in case I could hear you having a bad time of it."

Remus sat alone in the basement with his wand balanced between his long fingers. He hesitated before casting silencio.

No-one would hear him. He would hide this part of him; it was personal and his burden to bear. He was determined not to inflict it on anyone in the slightest; he would try, for the most part, too be normal. And on nights when he was not normal, he would hide his shame, his abnormality. They would not hear him. There would be no reminders of it.

He carefully put his wand out of reach of the wolf and removed his old robes and waited for the shivers to overcome his body and try in vain to penetrate his mind.

Sirius sat upstairs with a butterbeer. He had considered a firewhiskey but upon seeing the moon, full and bright in the night sky that he only ever saw through a window, he thought that perhaps he might be useful tonight.

Useful; it was hard to remember the last time that Sirius had felt useful. He had long focused on one task in attempt to undertake some kind of purpose. Chasing after Peter was not for any reason aside from selfish ones. There was no argument that it was for the greater good: Peter wasn't doing anything and pursuing Peter had only led to the return of Voldemort.

"SIRIUS!"

A yell from the living room brought Sirius out of his reverie. He got up hastily and rushed to find a flash of red light as a Phoenix vanished and Arthur Weasley look up from a letter.

"Harry's been expelled from Hogwarts", he said as he stood up quickly.

"What?" Sirius shouted.

"Mundungus left midway through his watch, Dementors came, Harry did the patronus," Arthur said in a rush as he ran his hand through the small amount of hair he had remaining.

"What-"

"Dumbledore is worried that Harry will leave Privet Drive or do more magic."

"Okay, what are we doing, let's-"Sirius started, but stopped once he saw that Arthur was scribbling as he didn't want to distract him.

"You're just sending him a letter?" Sirius said disbelievingly, once he saw that Arthur was simply writing to Harry and not for more instructions or information, "Harry doesn't have a clue what's going on, I'm sure it would be nice if we kept him informed rather than just following him around and telling him what to do."

"It will look too suspicious if we take him now. The ministry might be on their way as we speak. We need to wait for Dumbledore to sort things out. I expect Harry will be here soon enough."

Sirius went from frustrated, to resigned, to worried in quick concession. He grabbed Arthur's abandoned quill off the coffee table and scribbled his own note to his Godson, hoping that his Godson would not receive the same lack of freedom from Dumbledore as he had.

Arthur sat down after sending both letters but Sirius felt overwhelmingly frustrated. He escaped Azkaban to protect his Godson but he wasn't allowed to do that under Dumbledore. He was purposeless, unwanted and spare, even in his own house, even in a war, even when his Godson defended himself and will have to pay the price for it.

He left Arthur in the living room and headed downstairs to find Remus, and possibly some usefulness or calm, at least.

Sirius paused outside the door and waited, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm himself. He didn't really know what he wanted from Remus, but he knew that if anyone could calm him, it would be Remus; whether by reasoning with him in human form, or knowing that he was okay in wolf form.

"Remus?" Sirius asked tentatively through the door, "Remus? Are you alright in there? Has the potion worked alright?

He was answered by complete silence. There was not a knock in return or any indication at all.

"Remus?" Sirius called louder, "Are you alright, can you signal somehow. Knock on the door or something?"

Sirius felt himself panic; it creeped up his throat and he kicked the door in frustration and worry.

Sirius quickly performed charms to prevent to wolf from entering the main part of the house and removed the charms that Remus has placed on the door just in case before putting his wand safely away and transforming into Padfoot. He opened the door with his paws to find Remus lying calmly on the floor, tapping his tail as though bored. Remus tensed as he saw Sirius, and Sirius tensed in preparation to be pounced on as Remus quickly got up.

Sirius relaxed as he saw surprise and confusion etched so humanly upon Remus' wolf that Sirius would have laughed. Since he was transformed it came as a soft bark.

Sirius nudged Remus playfully now that his mood was lifted and his panic subsided. Remus nudged him softly back, before laying back down across the basement floor. Sirius looked at him for a moment before laying down next to him.

And even though it felt nice for Sirius to have a bit of purpose, he realized with a stab of self-loathing that he had come down to check on Remus to calm _himself_: selfish.

**A/N: I wanted to show a bit more of Sirius' character. I imagine one of Sirius' greatest fears to be like his family and I think one of Azkaban's lasting effects on Sirius was that it convinced him that he was, no matter how he tried to stop, always a Black. In doing so, Sirius sees his actions as selfish and in sync with his ancestry. I wanted to contrast this with Sirius' number one redeeming quality: his care for his friends, particularly Harry and Remus.**


	11. The Advance Guard

**A/N: Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry. I will update sooner I promise. I have been both busy and a bit uninspired as of late. Wow, so much has happened since I last posted here, the most exciting of which is that I went to Leakycon in Florida (I live in Australia by the way) and I had the best time of my life and met so many wonderful people. I'm also very, very close to finishing high school which means exams, exams and more exams. Excuses aside, thanks for sticking with this, I still plan to finish it especially since I have an actual direction for the story. I'm obviously having a bit of trouble with the pacing though, it's way too slow, I think.**

**Anyways, thanks for getting this far and I promise that this will be the longest update gap.**

**CHAPTER 11: The Advance Guard**

Remus spent most of the next day sleeping off the moon, with Sirius visiting him when he got impatient with his lack of usefulness for the Order or when you thought that Remus could do with some food. Grimmauld Place was busier than ever, with members moving in and out throughout the day. Mad-eye Moody stayed most of the day, and after destroying a pair of the twins' extendable ears, he was able to give instructions to various Order members. Sirius, of course, was not asked to be a part of this little expedition, even though it involved his Godson.

Tonks had sympathised with Sirius enough to sit with him while the other Order members involved in collecting Harry were in the meeting room.

"Shouldn't you be in the meeting?" Sirius asked.

"I've already been talking to Mad-eye about it, I think I know that plan inside-out anyway", said Tonks took a muggle pen and paper out of her bag.

"So what's the top-secret plan then?" Sirius asked.

"We can't use magic too close to Privet Drive so we're getting him without magic. It's pretty simple really, we're just all flying back here on broomsticks - not exactly directly, but hopefully not much of a detour because it's going to be freezing in the clouds."

She paused, as she examined the pen, muttering, "It's weird without ink", then began to write _Mr and Mrs Dursley, of 4 Privet Drive_.

"Ah, luring the Dursleys out are you?" Sirius asked as he read her note upside-down, " Well, I'd personally prefer something a bit more painful, they don't sound like the nicest people to have ever existed, but if you prefer lies and freewill, then sure."

"What do you mean?" Tonks asked, confused.

"Let's just say that Harry seemed far too keen to live with a convicted murderer he'd just met and witnessed try to murder someone", Sirius answered. At Tonks' obvious confusion, Sirius specified, "Me."

"You were trying to kill someone in front of him when you met him?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, long story. Well, that wasn't the first time I'd met him, but it's the first time since he was one so I doubt he would have remembered me from then."

Sirius sat in thought while Tonks finished her note, and sealed in a muggle envelope.

"How's Remus?" Tonks asked hesitantly.

"He's alright, just tired now", Sirius answered. Sirius looked closer as Tonks' expression, which was almost nervous, or at least as nervous as he had ever seen Tonks.

"Does he transform in the house?" Tonks asked nervously.

"Yes", Sirius replied, looking disappointed at Tonks, "And he can't get out until moonset and by moonset he's human; very human and usually sleepy. He's not going to attack you."

"That's not what I meant", Tonks replied quickly, "I know he's not going to – I didn't mean it like that. He's fine now?"

"He's fine."

Sirius was still looking at Tonks suspiciously, but not coldly as he was only seconds before. A slight smile tugged the corners of his mouth upwards and he eyes, which sometimes appeared so hollow, were glittering strangely.

"Sirius", Mad-eye called from the upstairs, breaking Sirius' gaze on Tonks, "Can I have a word?"

Sirius allowed his hopes to be raised, if only slightly. He paused at the door and cleared his throat.

Mad-eye looked up, "Oh Sirius… Have you been with Remus today? Is he alright?"

Oh, of course. I'm here as spokesperson of Moony, Sirius thought bitterly.

"Yeah, he's fine, just a little tired. He had Wolfsbane, so it's nothing like before", Sirius answered.

Mad-eye paused, looking at Sirius as though he was about to say something. He appeared to have decided against is, and quickly growled, "Right. Can you ask him if he's okay to come to Privet Drive with a group to get Harry? I need someone who Harry knows well enough to trust. We'll do it in a couple of days."

"Why wait a couple of days to get him?" Sirius asked.

"I didn't know he had Wolfsbane so I put the date off to make sure he'd have recovered."

'Right", said Sirius, "And you can't push the date forward now that you know that Remus will be fine tomorrow?"

Moody hesitated slightly before replying no.

Though the answer was not the one he wanted, her much preferred Moody's upfront approach to Dumbledore's sly one which had got him stuck in the house in the first place.

"I'll ask him", Sirius promised.

The members of the advanced guard arrived at number 4, Privet Drive separately or without magic to reduce suspicion. While certain members who were unfamiliar with Cornelius Fudge thought that Mad-eye's suggestion was pure paranoia, Dumbledore agreed; No order members were to use any magically traceable means to arrive at Privet Drive, and those using magic to travel to nearby Privet Drive apparated to different places and at different times.

"Fudge is undoubtedly tracking all magical transportation around Privet Drive", Dumbledore confirmed, "especially that of people he suspects are Order members."

Remus, appeared only slightly more tired than usual, was paired to arrive with Tonks. They decided to arrive without magic as Remus was suspected by Fudge and he didn't want Fudge to know that they going somewhere together, which would be obvious if they apparated together.

"He might just think that we're going on a date in muggle London", she suggested jokingly.

Remus had laughed, though he said seriously, "You'd almost have a better chance keeping your job if it were discovered that you were helping the Order than if you were dating", he paused briefly, "a werewolf."

And though Tonks had replied indignantly, "Well that's _bollocks_", it had stuck with her that her very ministry that she had trained so hard to work for would suppress someone that she had nothing but increasing respect for. She wondered if he had dated people who had lost their jobs over him, or if he was dating someone now, but in secret to protect them. She wondered a rather lot about Remus Lupin. She supposed she liked the mystery of him.

They ended up walking about 4 miles to Privet Drive slowly together.

They met the rest of the advanced guard at Privet Drive.

"Okay, the ministry has no reason to suspect that half the order is getting Harry, so we should be fine as long as no-one's directly watching", he growled, "wands ready at all times though."

Despite Moody's quietly growled orders, by the time the guard has entered the kitchen many members didn't trouble to keep their voices down.

Remus looked around slowly at the place where Harry grew up. He noticed that although there were many pictures of a larger boy, there was none of Harry. He thought sadly how Lily and James had adored Harry and had taken so many photos of Harry, many that Remus still had and treasured.

A crash brought him out of his reverie; he saw that Tonks had broken a plate. "Oops, sorry", she muttered to nobody in particular. Mad-eye's magical eye followed the flight of stairs up, before prodding his wand-tip slightly, from which a silvery blue thread floated out of and upstairs, followed by a click of a door unlocking.

At Tonks' raised eye-brow, Mad-eye replied smugly, "Untraceable. I you would have learnt you if you listened more in training".

"Hey-", Tonks began, before being shushed by Moody who had his magical eye still focused up the stairs.

"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out", said Mad-eye his low, growling voice.

Harry hesitated before replying uncertainly, "Professor Moody, is that you?"

"I don't know so much about 'Professor'", he replied, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."

"It's alright Harry. We've come to take you away", said Remus who was closest to the stairs.

"P-Professor Lupin?" Harry said disbelievingly, "Is that you?"

"Why are we all standing in the dark?" Tonks asked to the room at large, before lighting her wand as she shot a smug look to Moody, who smiled at her, or as close to Moody would ever get to smiling at someone. Tonks looked back at Harry, to see him eerily similar to photos she had seen of James Potter.

"Oooh, he looks just like I though he would," she said brightly, "Wotcher, Harry!"

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," said Kingsley, instantly reminded of all the photos of Sirius and his best friend that he had collected as part of his search of Sirius for the Ministry, "he looks exactly like James".

"Except the eyes," said Elphais Doge, "Lily's eyes."

"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" Mad-eye growled who was squinting at Harry with suspicion, "It'd be a lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought Veritaserum?"

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Remus asked.

"A stag," said Harry, though rather nervously.

"That's him, Mad-Eye," Remus confirmed.

Harry came down the stairs, sliding his wand in his back pocket of his jeans.

"Don't put your wand there, boy!" roared Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"

'Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?' Tonks asked Mad-Eye interestedly.

'Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!' growled Mad-Eye. 'Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more.' He stumped off towards the kitchen. 'And I saw that,' he added irritably, as Tonks rolled her eyes.

Tonks watched Remus he shook Harry's hand and asked Harry how he was. Remus clearly cared a great deal for Harry. Her chest constricted as she saw Remus' concerned expression and she wondered why Harry had to stay in a house where he wasn't loved when there was Remus and Sirius and the Weasleys who all loved him dearly.

"I'm-you're really lucky the Dursleys are out..." Harry mumbled.

"Lucky, ha!" Tonks exclaimed "It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now... Or they think they are."

"We are leaving, aren't we?" Harry asked. "Soon?"

"Almost at once," Remus assured him, "we're just waiting for the all-clear."

"Where are we going? The Burrow?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Not The Burrow, no," replied Remus, motioning Harry towards the kitchen; the advanced guard followed them. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere un-detectable. It's taken a while..."

Moody sat at the kitchen table drinking from his hip flask, while his magical eye spun in all directions.

"This is Alastor Moody, Harry," said Remus, pointing towards Moody.

"Yeah, I know," said Harry uncomfortably.

"And this is Nymphadora—"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus, it's Tonks."

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," finished Lupin.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," muttered Tonks. 

Remus introduced Harry to the rest of the guard as Tonks looked around the kitchen. They briefly filled Harry in on the plan to fly to the headquarters to avoid using traceable magic.

'Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes.'

'I'll come and help you,' said Tonks brightly.

She followed Harry back into the hall and up the stairs, looking around with much curiosity and interest.

'Funny place,' she said. 'It's a bit too clean, d'you know what I mean? Bit unnatural. Oh, this is better,' she added, as they entered Harry's bedroom.

"You know, I don't think violet's really my colour," she said as she tugged at a lock of spiky hair. "D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?"

She decided the peaky seemed to suit a certain other member of the order rather than her.

'Er-' said Harry.

'Yeah, it does,' Tonks decided as she morphed her hair to her favourite pink.

Showing off her morphing skills was the easiest way for Tonks to impress someone. She suddenly felt like a child, trying to get her mum's attention, but this was Harry Potter, so she decided that it was worth pulling her old, standard trick. However Tonks much preferred to impress someone with things she worked hard for and was glad when Harry seemed impressed at her occupation.

Tonks packed most of Harry's belongings messily by magic and they returned downstairs to find Remus sealing a letter addressed to the Dursleys.

'Excellent,' said Remus as Tonks and Harry entered. 'We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry-'

'They won't,' said Harry.

'-that you're safe-'

'That'll just depress them.'

'-and you'll see them next summer.'

'Do I have to?'

Lupin smiled but made no answer.

After Moody disillusioned Harry, they all stepped outside on to Uncle Vernon's beautifully kept lawn and set off into the night.

**A/N: It's always bugged me that one hovering charm in Privet Drive by Dobby notified the ministry of underage magic, yet order members use lumos and (presumably) alohamora and nothing comes of it. So the whole untraceable magic thing with Moody and Tonks is me trying ****to cover a little book mistake. I also love Moody and Tonks' banter and think that Moody is incredibly fond of Tonks and Remus. I think that Moody and Sirius would have gotten drunk together in the 1****st**** war and both respected each other. I can see Moody being unsure as to whether or not he should apologize to Sirius which leads to the slight awkwardness between Moody and Sirius in this chapter. I also think that Moody and Sirius would have both bonded in the first war as men of action and Moody being unable to take Sirius to get Harry adds to Moody's reasons as to why he might have to apologize and therefore the awkwardness.**

**I'm also going to give my tumblr a casual plug because I can – It's .com**


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